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Marcus Agrippa
Marcus Agrippa took part in 1 war: #Final War of the Roman Republic Final War of the Roman Republic Octavian moved his soldiers cross the Adriatic Sea to confront Antony near Actium. Meanwhile, Agrippa disrupted Antony's supply lines with the navy. Gaius Sosius commanded a squadron in Mark Anthony's fleet with which he managed to defeat the squadron of Lucius Arruntius and put it to flight, but when the latter was reinforced by Marcus Agrippa, Sosius's ally Tarcondimotus - the king of Cilicia - was killed and Sosius himself was forced to flee. Octavian decided not to attack and risk unnecessary losses. Instead, Octavian wanted to battle Antony by sea where his experienced sailors could dominate. In response, Antony and Octavian engaged in Fabian strategy until the time was right. As the summer ended and autumn began to set in, both Octavian and Antony settled for a battle of attrition. The strategy of delay paid dividends to Octavian, as morale sank and prominent Romans deserted Antony's cause. The first conflict of the war occurred when Octavian's general Agrippa captured the Greek city and naval port of Methone. The city had previously been loyal to Antony. Although Antony was an experienced soldier, he did not understand naval combat, which led to his downfall. Antony moved his fleet to Actium where Octavian’s navy and army had taken camp. In what would become known as the Battle of Actium, Antony, on September 2, 31 BC, moved his large quinqueremes through the strait and into the open sea. There, Octavian’s light and maneuverable Liburnian ships drew in battle formation against Antony’s warships. Cleopatra stayed behind Antony’s line on her royal barge. A devastating blow to Antony’s forces came when one of Antony’s former generals delivered to Octavian Antony’s battle plan. Antony had hoped to use his biggest ships to drive back Agrippa's wing on the north end of his line, but Octavian's entire fleet stayed carefully out of range. Shortly after mid-day, Antony was forced to extend his line out from the protection of the shore, and then finally engage the enemy. In the Battle of Actium, Agrippa's navy had 250 galleys and 16000 soldiers, 3000 archers, whilst Mark Antony's navy had 290 galleys, 20000 soldiers, and 2000 archers. Octavian's fleet, armed with better trained and fresher crews, made quick work of Antony’s larger and less experienced navy. Octavian’s soldiers had spent years fighting in Roman naval combat, where one objective was to ram the enemy ship and at the same time kill the above deck crew with a shower of arrows and catapult-launched stones large enough to decapitate a man. As the armies stood on either side of the naval battle, they watched as Antony was being outmatched by Agrippa. Seeing that the battle was going against Antony, Cleopatra's fleet retreated to open sea without firing a shot, leaving Antony to fight for himself. As a gap opened in Agrippa's blockade, she funneled through, and was soon closely followed by Antony's command ships. The commanders of Antony's land forces, which were supposed to follow him to Asia, promptly surrendered their legions without a fight. Antony retreated to a smaller vessel with his flag and managed to escape to Alexandria. By the end of the day, Antony’s entire fleet would lie at the bottom of the sea and the Roman world had witnessed the largest naval battle in almost 200 years. At this point, Octavian had about 450,000 soldiers whilst Mark Antony had about 10,000. As Octavian approached with his legions, what remained of Antony's cavalry and fleet surrendered to Octavian. Most of Antony’s infantry surrendered without any engagement at this stage of the conflict, they were Italian veterans and Antony's cause was lost. Within a month, Octavian was named Pharaoh, and Egypt became his personal possession. With Octavian in control of all of Rome's provinces and over 78 legions (520,000 total force), he was now the undisputed master of the Roman world. Through executing Antony's supporters, Octavian finally brought a century of civil war to a close. Within a few years, Octavian was named Augustus by the Senate and given unprecedented powers. Octavian, now Augustus, merged the western and eastern halves of the Republic into the Roman Empire with Augustus ruling it as the first Roman Emperor. As far as I am aware, Marcus Agrippa was undefeated in battle. Conclusion: A great commander. Category:Great Commanders